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'Holloway' is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Islington and follows for the most part, the line of the Holloway Road (A1 road). At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head area.
At the 2001 census, the population of Holloway was 11,214, of those 47% male and 53% female. It is home to a very multicultural population and is one of the most densely populated areas of London.

Contents

History

Notable residents

Ashburton Grove

References

Transport and locale

Nearest places

Underground stations

Railway stations

External links

History

The origins of the name are disputed; some believe that it derives from ''Hollow'', or ''Hollow way'', due to a dip in the road caused by the passage of animals and water erosion, as this was the main cattle driving route from the North into Smithfield. In Lower Holloway, the former ''Back Road'', now Liverpool Road was used to rest and graze the cattle before entering London. Others believe the name derives from ''Hallow'' and refers to the road's historic significance as part of the pilgrimage route to Walsingham. No documentary evidence can be found to support either derivation Islington Growth: Holloway and Tollington, , Patricia, Croot, A History of the County of Middlesex, ; and by 1307, the name ''Holwey'' was applied to the district around the road''Islington: Communications'', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 3-8 accessed: 13 July 2007. The main stretch of Holloway Road runs through the site of the former villages of Tollington and Stroud. The exact time of their founding is not known, but the earliest record of them dates from the ''Domesday Book''. The names ceased to be used by the late 17th Century, but are still preserved in the local place names Tollington Park and Stroud Green.
The original route, from London, led through Tollington Lane, but such was the state of this road by the 14th century, that the Bishop of London built a new road up Highgate Hill, and was claiming tolls by 1318. This was the origins of the Great North Road, now the A1, which passes through Holloway.
Until the 19th century the area was predominantly rural, but as London expanded in the second half of the 19th century it became extremely built-up. By the 1960s, much of Holloway was covered with dilapidated late Victorian terraced housing, and the area had a reputation as a run-down district with many larger properties used for light industrial purposes.
Today, Holloway remains one of the poorer parts of Islington, however, gentrification is occurring, particularly in the Hillmarton and Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace conservation areas. There are also many development projects taking place over a large area between the Arsenal stadium development and Caledonian Road. In addition, Islington Council have earmarked many improvement projects for the Nag's Head area over the next decade.
Holloway is often best known for its prison, HMP ''Holloway'' in Parkhurst Road, which was first built in 1852, originally housing both male and female prisoners, but since 1902 it has housed only women and is the UK's major female prison. Prisoners that have been held at the original prison include Christabel Pankhurst, Isabella Glyn and Oscar Wilde.
Holloway is also known for the very large Andover Estate, a sprawling council housing estate built in the late 1960's until the late 1970's.

Notable residents

★ John Betjeman, poet laureate, lived at 329 Holloway Road.

★ Ben Chaplin, actor

★ James Collinson, artist and co-founder of the pre-Raphaelite movement, lived at 15 St John's Grove.

★ Charlie George, the legendary Arsenal footballer, grew up in this area and attended Holloway School.

★ Katherine Hamnett, fashion designer, lived in Hillmarton Road.

★ Bob Hoskins, actor, lived on Penn Road.

★ Jonathan Cohen, local gay musician.

★ Edward Lear, poet and illustrator, was born in Bowman's Place, now replaced by the playground of Grafton Primary School.

★ John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten, lead singer of the Sex Pistols lived in Benwell Road.

★ Charles Pooter, fictional diarist in the classic 19th century novel ''Diary of a Nobody'', lived in Holloway Road.

★ William Heath Robinson, cartoonist, was born in Hornsey Rise in 1872 and moved to Benwell Road in 1878. He later lived in Cathcart Hill.

★ Suggs, lead singer of Madness

★ Kate Winslet, actress on Penn Road

★ Fay Presto, close up magician and artiste

★ Marc Bannerman, former Eastenders TV actor

★ Charlotte Coleman, actress lived in a flat in Holloway

Ashburton Grove

View of the South Bridge with the ARSENAL statue lettering in the foreground and the Emirates Stadium in the background.

Arsenal Football Club have moved, after 93 years at Highbury, to a new stadium at Ashburton Grove in Holloway. It was informally known as Ashburton Grove until a naming rights deal with the airline Emirates was announced, and that name is still used by some people. The stadium opened in the summer of 2006, and has an all-seated capacity of 60,432, making it the second biggest stadium in the Premiership after Old Trafford and the third biggest in London after Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stadium. The overall cost of the project was £390 million.

References

Transport and locale

Nearest places

★ Islington

★ Finsbury Park

★ Barnsbury

★ Canonbury

★ Highbury

★ Tufnell Park

★ Camden Town

★ Kentish Town

★ Archway

Underground stations

★ Holloway Road tube station

★ Caledonian Road tube station

★ Highbury & Islington tube station (BR interchange)

Railway stations

★ Upper Holloway railway station

★ Caledonian Road & Barnsbury railway station

★ Drayton Park railway station

★ Highbury & Islington railway station

External links

★ St Mary Magdalene's Church, Holloway Road